Canadian Sleep Medicine Today

One million individuals in Ontario currently suffer from some level of apnea. If they all came forward, it would take over 10 years to assess the severity of their problem with a full night sleep study, and an equal length of time to conduct a CPAP trial. These patients would typically be offered CPAP as first line treatment. Six months later, 60 % of them would remain compliant with this prescribed treatment, leaving over 400,000 untreated.

Health caregivers for these patients can best serve them by collaborating and developing a true multi-disciplinary approach; one that utilizes efficient screening processes, effectively provides information regarding lifestyle changes that improves the severity of their disease, and guides the patients towards “patient specific therapy alternatives” that have proven effectiveness and favorable compliance rates based on the most current research available.